No, it’s not potty humor; it’s a variation on Craps, the popular casino game. I know, it’s not necessarily a video game, but it could be formatted as such, especially since most people don’t have the felt table, the stick or even a solid set of dice. This game will test whether drunken belligerence is more favorable than bankruptcy.

In Drinking Craps, one player is the “House,” and the remaining players are casino patrons. Each betting unit equals one drink, and chip increments are one, two and five. A successful bet by a player means drinks for the House. A failed bet means drinks for the player.

For example, if the point is six, and the player has one chip on the line and two chips as a backup bet, a successful point means three drinks for the House. If the point fails, however, that player takes three drinks, and the position of “House” rotates around the table.

The House may place side bets on the table, assigning drinks to other people upon favorable outcomes. Additionally, casino patrons may play the Don’t Pass line. In this case, all of their bets are with the house, and drinks from successful bets are assigned to other players. However, players on the Don’t Pass line do not drink on other players’ side bets, such as the Come, the Field and individual numbers.

All the other standard rules of Craps apply.

Random Game Idea | No Comments »

News University, A journalism training site, is featuring the “Be A Reporter” game. You have to register for the site to play, but it only takes a second. I was certainly curious enough to sign up, since I view my job as a sort of tycoon/time management game anyway.

“Be a Reporter” presents a journalistic utopia. Despite the occasional nag from your editor, you really have free reign to speak to any source, sometimes on several occasions. Availability of sources and their willingness to talk about a controversial issue — toxic cheese served in a school cafeteria — aren’t obstacles here. You’re also able to check public records and sift through previous news stories, insuring that every fact is double checked and no stone is unturned before the deadline, which only looms when you’re ready.

In the real world, that kind of work is called investigative reporting, and sadly it’s a dying craft. Many newspapers don’t have the financial resources to let reporters spend the time they need on a story. Often, we’re scraping together what sources we can before the deadline. I would have liked to see a game that highlights the reporter’s conflict: too many leads to follow and too little time to get it done.

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Invariably, no one outside the “circle of gamers” has heard of Portal. It saddens me to have to explain such a great game, but it’s a pleasure to do so. In short, your character can create two sides of a portal through space. Shoot the wall in the distance with one end and a hole in the ground with the other, and step through your own shortcut.

Much has been written about Portal already, and the more thoughtful essays reflect its rejection of game conventions. Portal proves the publishers can’t push us around, argues one writer. Another claims the sterilized, over-utilized lab atmosphere is actually a ploy to explore gamer psychology. And then there’s my favorite, the “Portal is for lesbians” argument.

I would add that Portal is the only game I can describe in real-world terms to “non-gamers.” If the basic mechanic existed in my life, I tell them, I would shoot one end of a space rift outside my car at night, and shoot the other end on the wall in my room. In the morning, I’d step through and save 5 minutes walking to where I parked. I want the portal gun. And I’m not the only one.

Typically, games are described as “battles against alien onslaughts” or “quests to save the universe” or “ventures into a dystopian world.” A lot of those soundbytes sum up my favorite games, but they do no justice to the games themselves, and really, they sound pretty lame. Penny Arcade describes Portal as “first-person shooter comedy,” but one need only tell people about the portal gun to sell the game; their imaginations will do the rest.

Newman | No Comments »